Review: Brave a Warrior's Tale

Brave a Warrior's Tale is a plain action/platformer aimed at the younger audience. Part of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Family Games, Brave tries to be unique, but fails miserably in the graphics and sounds department.

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Brave a Warrior's Tale is a third person action-adventure game aimed for kids and teens. Part of Microsoft’s “Xbox 360 Family Games" category, Brave allows players to jump into the shoes of a native Indian Warrior with the objective to rescue his village from evil invaders. There are a variety of gameplay moments replete with puzzle-solving and animal-riding fun, but the graphics look quite outdated as compared to other Xbox360 family games.

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Gameplay

Brave is the Xbox 360 version of a PlayStation 2 game called Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer. Gameplay is expanded to newer levels and side-quests, making it different from the original PS2 version. Brave teaches game basics through a small tutorial and then takes you to the main quests. The quest levels are a nice combination of puzzle-solving and platforming. You will have the opportunity to mimic animal sounds, do some spear-fishing and ride on animals and birds.

While these are some good aspects, there are serious control issues that may spoil the evening. You will have a difficult time jumping through colorful landscapes, particularly when you have to jump through moving platforms. The environmental textures and poor camera angles also make it difficult for you to judge which is the safest area to land. Combat is fairly easy. Trashing enemies with axe and tomahawk is fun. There are some RPG elements infused as well, including XP and skills. The more skills you acquire, the more interesting the combat gets.

Kids new to the console gaming platform will find Brave a Warriors Tale interesting, but for those who have played other great Xbox 360 Family Games won’t find it a bit bland.

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Graphics

One of the not-so-good parts of Brave a Warrior's Tale is the outdated graphics. The textures and animations in the PS2 version were better than the current Xbox 360 version. The environment sports low resolution textures without any lighting effects. You will also feel helpless fighting in the dark as there are no in-game adjustments to tweak the brightness level. The poor camera angles will spoil your gameplay, particularly during those boss fights. Developers Collision Studios tried to give a Native American feel to the overall game, but failed miserably.

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Sound

The background score, complete with drum and flute sounds, is barely audible. The developers tried to make it as Native as possible, but failed to execute in properly. The chirpy background score’s transition into solemn music during Boss fights seems completely out of place in this family-oriented game. The character voices sound like any average cartoon movie, hence there’s nothing so unique about it. Conversations between Brave and other characters are okay and sound very casual and uninteresting.

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Overall

Except for few good gameplay moments, Brave a Warrior's Tale is an average game. It has no replay value. However, you have a chance to earn achievement points for solving puzzles and completing quests. The visuals are not up to the mark. Overall, Brave is an average action-adventure game with not-so-great graphics and gameplay.